fiction

  • June 2024 Reading Recap

    I had the good fortune this month to return to the Yale Writers’ Workshop, where I spent two weeks talking about craft with talented and inspiring authors, published and soon-to-be. But that also meant less time for reading, though I am well ahead of my annual reading goal of 100 books, having completed 70 at

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  • May 2024 Reading Recap

    It was like October in May this month, as I stumbled my way into three fantastic dark and twisty novels, all drawing on historical, literary, and newsworthy inspirations to tell their stories: Grievers by Adrienne Maree Brown, a pandemic-era dystopian fiction novel set in Detroit; James by Percival Everett, a retelling of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry

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  • April 2024 Reading Recap

    This month I was once again reminded of the stark difference between adoptee stories told by adoptees, adoptee stories told by non-adoptee allies, and adoptee stories told by those who use us as plot points, perpetuating inaccurate and harmful tropes. I read books that are examples of all three in April.   Please support adoptee

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  • March 2024 Reading Recap

    I had the good fortune to travel to the UK this month, researching the novel I am currently working on. One of the things I love about bookstores in the UK is the rich array of translations typically unavailable in US Bookstores. In fact, I read five of them this month, translated from French, Hebrew,

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  • February 2024 Reading Recap

    Another Black History Month of reading in the books though, quite honestly, I don’t read any differently his month than any other month; any month is a good month to read Black authors! Still, I thought I would use this opportunity to highlight the Black authors I read this month here, in case you’re looking

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  • January 2024 Reading Recap

    January is the month of new year’s resolutions, and I have to confess that, after reading 178 books in 2022, my resolution last year was to actually read less. I think maybe I was concerned about letting my introverted tendencies “win” over other parts of me? It sounds silly now, but after having missed my

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  • Favorite Books of 2023

    This year I completed a whopping 180 books! (A breakdown of genres and author demographics will come separately, along with recommendations for broadening your reading in 2024). In the meantime, here are my favorites: 10 nonfiction and 10 fiction. Grab them from your local library or favorite indie! Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning (2020)

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  • December 2023 Reading Recap

    December is the time when I look back at all I’ve read the past year… and think about all the books I really wanted to get to but didn’t! I’ve also realized I now have so many unread books on my shelf, I could go all of 2024 without buying a single book. It won’t

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  • November 2023 Reading Recap

    November was a non-fiction heavy reading month, as 9 of 13 books I read fell into the nonfiction category, while two more (Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar (1963), marvelously read by the actress Maggie Gyllenhaal; and Percival Everett’s The Book of Training (2019)) were based heavily in fact.  It was my second reading of The

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  • October 2023 Reading Recap

    I spent the entirety of my October reading poetry manuscripts from my fellow classmates in the Brooklyn Poets Mentorship Program, a year long program of intensive study that culminates in the completion of full collections by participants. It has been an inspiration and a joy to see my classmates’ work come together (and my own

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Women with long, curly hair seated on a stoop. She is wearing an army green jacket and jeans, smiling at the camera.